As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 26th of August, 2020, Krunoslav Capak, the director of the Croatian Institite of Public Health, was a guest on the HTV dnevnik recently and pointed out that according to the World Health Organisation, 6 vaccines for the new coronavirus are currently in their third phase of clinical trials.
“Everyone knows that we’ve had big numbers over the last two weeks that no one is happy with. We didn’t expect them to be that big. Considering that we had a tourist season, there are a million people who have stayed in Croatia, that number isn’t frightening, but of course we’re worried. We’re working to reduce that number,” Krunoslav Capak told HRT.
“The numbers have been falling over the last two days and we hope it will continue to do so. We expect that tomorrow’s number of infected people will be somewhat lower,” he added.
Local headquarters and the determination of anti-epidemic measures
”This [the determination of measures] has been the goal of our meetings and agreements and we’ve been communicating with local and county headquarters in this way for some time now. We think that they know best what the situation is in their own respective counties and focusing their measures on those areas is a burning issue for them. What Imotski asked for, of course, was supported by the National Staff. Now the situation is with Slavonski Brod and we expect each county to express what is most important for them to be introduced as a new measure at this time,” said Krunoslav Capak.
In Slavonski Brod’s case, the measure is to reduce the number of people at weddings and gatherings.
The operation of bars and cafes
Krunoslav Capak said that he is not issuing punishments for not adhereing to the measures at this moment in time because they believe that repression is the last measure that should be used.
”We think it’s much smarter to go with education, persuasion, with appeals to all those who should change their behaviour. At the moment, we have no grounds to punish those cafes that violate the measures, but of course there is a possibility for that. If this continues and our appeals aren’t responded to, then there is always the possibility of repression,” Krunoslav Capak stated.
Patients with severe clinical pictures
“In this warm period of the year, we’ve had milder clinical pictures, but as the number of patients increased, so did the number of people in our infectious disease clinics with patients who needed to be hospitalised. At the moment, there are 40 of them. Considering that some time has passed since the moment of a large number of patients being recorded, we expected that more severe clinical pictures would appear,” said Capak.
Krunoslav Capak pointed out that the fact is that younger people are mostly ill. The average incidence of disease is between 30 and 35 years of age.
”These are younger people who have always had a milder clinical picture. We all need to rake caution and keep compliance with epidemiological measures in mind. Over the last few days, we’ve had an increased number of hospitalisations, which indicates an increasing number of more severe clinical pictures,” he noted.
The coronavirus vaccine
Krunoslav Capak pointed out that according to the World Health Organisation, 6 vaccines are currently in their third phase of clinical trials.
”Their registration is unlikely before the New Year. At the beginning of next year, we can expect a regular and registered vaccine. Croatia has done everything to reserve this vaccine on time together with other member states of the European Union, it’s known that we have booked a million and a half doses for citizens,” concluded Krunoslav Capak for HRT.
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